Weirdo Base Strikes Back! The Cage of Illusions
by Darkday Chaos
Summary: [Ongoing] Sequel to Neverland, not quite AU. The Strawhats have lived on the island as long as they remember... which isn't saying much. Something of ill will is going on, but will they even be able to notice? Ch 6 up.
1. Temper

_To be honest, I had a hard time trying _not _to write a sequel. Forgive Sanji his bad mouth. He grows out of it in a chapter or so. Enjoy!_**  
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**Weirdo Base Strikes Back- The Cage of Illusion and Weirdo Base Punch**

_Chapter 1. Temper_ **  
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Sanji didn't care. He didn't. He also didn't care that people thought he should care. He didn't care about what they ever said, anyway.

He didn't have an attitude. The whole world just sucked.

Okay, so maybe he was being grumpy, but that wasn't his fault in the first place, now was it?

He angrily kicked the wall, leaving a small dent. Well, crap. He hadn't ment to kick that hard.

It was all that punk's fault!

Dang it Luffy, if you're up there watching, give the guy a migrane or something, will ya? It's not like he doesn't deserve worse.

"Hey kid, stop kickn' stuff. You're gonna get in trouble again." A bemused voice floated though the open door. Damn smug punk.

"I don't _care._ It's all your fault!"

A grinning, ghastly chocolate-haired head poked into the room. "I know. You told me before."

He glared at it. The face just smiled, amused.

"Stop doing that, you psyco! Damn chesire cat!"

"You don't want to _make_ me make you calm down, do you?"

"... Hell._ NO_."

"Then do it yourself! I gotta wash our stinkin' laundry. Se ya in a bit."

The head departed, along with the rest of its body.

"Freak," Sanji muttered to himself as he flopped onto his neat bed. He sighed loudly. Maybe the idiot was right, he should calm down. It was only one match, after all. And against a little nobody. The rematch was tomorrow, he could do twice as well.

He kind of wondered how the others were doing. He hadn't seen them in such a long time... Divided into teams, two people on each team. He still regretted getting stuck with that moronic punk. The teams weren't ever meant to be who you wanted to be paired up with, however. They were based on who you fought the best with on the same side. Him with the big moron, and Nami with Usopp.

And Luffy. Idiot. He got away with not comming. He's long gone.

Damn it Luffy, why'd you have to leave? We weren't finished with you yet, idiot. Why did you _go_?

"Luffy, you coward. Always doing as you please... WE DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD GO! YOU MAY BE CAPTAIN, BUT YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR CREW! DO YOU HEAR ME?" he shouted to the ceiling, more in anger than sorrow.

_'I'm sorry...'_

He didn't have to hear it know what it said.

"Yeah, well..." he frustratedly rubbed the hot tears out of his eyes.

_'I didn't mean to, you know that Sanji... It was an accident...'_

"You're one damn clumsy pirate!"

_'Ha ha ha...!'_

He could hear the easy grin in that laugh, he'd seen it so many times before.

"We all miss you. But, we're not letting that get in the way, you know that, don't you? We miss you but we're okay. It's just like you'll come back after a while."

_'I'm glad...'_

He thought silently for a moment, before asking curiously, "... Hey Luffy. You never really left, did you?"

_'Nope...! I'll only really die when no one remembers me...'_

"When you're forgotten?"

_'Yup...! I'll never die, Sanji...'_

Sanji chuckled into a pillow. He was alot more calm now, all his frustration having dissolved. It was so nice to hear a voice besides Zoro's once in a while. It's not that he hated the guy. Far from it. Any opposition between them only went as far as, and didn't exceed, rivalry and extreme anoyance. They were comrades.

But, anoying was definitly enough. Sanji didn't care to meet anything that was both anoying _and_ life-threatening. He'd had enough of that, frankly, and he supposed there would be more of it to come.

_**To Be Continued...**_

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_And there you have it, folks! Ah, Luffy... The thing about this story is that, while the sad parts may be difficult, once you get through them it's not as sad as it looks. I like to surprise. Tell me what you think.  
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	2. Match Sick and Memory Skip

_The first chapter was so short that I decided to put up number two at the same time. They mostly go together anyway._

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**Weirdo Base Strikes Back**

_Chapter 2. Match Sick and Memory Skip_

Zoro cocked his head to the sky, where a bird glided across the clouds. He shook his head, as if to clear a thought, and scooped up the basket of now clean clothes.

He didn't really mind being in charge of laundry. Sanji always cooked, organized, and went shoping for stuff they needed, so Zoro cleaned things that needed to be clean. It was a fair enough trade. Besides, he hated trying to buy stuff. People were always shoving things under his nose and lying about prices.

He walked calmly out of the building and headed back to his and Sanji's house. For, in reality, it was more of a house than anything. He had expected it to only have three or four rooms and cramped space, but it was roomy, with three bedrooms and even a fireplace and an upstairs.

You'd think those wackos wouldn't spend so much on two people, when they wouldn't even be living in the thing for more than a month. He wasn't comlplaining, though.

He unlatched the iron gate and shut it behind him as he entered the property. Past the row of cherry threes, and up the porch steps. It really was a nice house.

"Yo! I'm back!"

Sanji lept down the stairs in one bound and landed much like a cat, his lean figure and cool demeanor adding to the effect.

"How'd it go?" Usualy it wasn't a question one would ask of someone back from doing laundry, but in Zoro's case it was standard.

"Everything's clean. Even though it took about three trips to do it all. Do we really need that many clothes? It's silly."

He held up the basket to prove his point. Sanji took the clothes and ignored him.

"No private flying lessons, right? And no going berserk on random people?"

"Hey, that was a one-time thing. It's not going to happen again. Stop treating me like a delinquint, you worry wart." Zoro was grinning. Again. Dangit, did he HAVE to do that?

"You almost killed that guy, you know."

"I know. That's the reason he's still alive. If I'd've meant to kill him, he'd be dead already."

"Oh, go lift weights or something. The rematch is tomorrow, and the only reason there IS a rematch in the first place is because of you. So go away."

Zoro didn't bother arguing. Sanji needed some space after what happened yesterday. Everything had been going smoothly, they hadn't lost a match once, then suddenly Zoro had come down with a fever. Aparently he had eaten something he wasn't supposed to. He had gotten sick- not so sick that it would've interfered with his fighting, but he wasn't allowed to come to the match because of it. Something about contagious and effecting other teams, or something.

So Sanji had to go off on his own, and as luck would have it, the match couldn't be completed without a partner. They had lost by default, but the rules say they were allowed a rematch in two day's time before the final score counted. He wouldn't get sick this time. He couldn't, otherwise they'd be out of the game. And if they were out of the game... Well, Zoro wasn't going to think about that.

He stared out of the second floor window at the almost visible stars. Even with the sun still shining brightly in the afternoon, he could still see little specks of light here and there.

On a whim he slid open the window and stood on the sill outside the wall, back to the house, leaning forward. The wind pushed him back, and he stood there, arms outstretched, eyes closed. It felt so nice, just to stay there, the strong breeze ruffling his clothes and hair.

The wind died down some, and he started leaning forward. It was too late to rebalance himself, so he calmly fell, head first. Half a second before he hit the ground, he tucked into a roll and tumbled onto the grass, unhurt, without even opening his eyes.

"Would you quit it with the acrobatics and come eat dinner?"

"Hai, chotto matte, just give me a second." He laid there for a few moments, before tucking his legs in front of him, rolling back, and pushing the ground with his arms to spring to his feet.

"Hey..." Sanji gazed at him for a moment, confused. "I do that. All the time."

"I got it from you. Come on kid, let's eat. I hope you made something good this time."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'this time'? Hey you, answer me!"

Zoro enthusiasticly ducked the malicious kick and ran for the front door, laughing.

Sanji sighed and tucked his hands back into his pockets, and strode back to the house. He didn't know why that guy was so happy all the time. He never was this energetic before, only in fights. Usually he would just sleep on the deck.

Wait. Sleep on the deck? He didn't remember ever going on a boat... Come to think of it, he didn't even remember seeing Zoro sleeping at all, except this morning when he was sick. But there it was, as clear as if he was seeing it right now, the green haired man, slightly younger, lounging with his back to the mast on a brown and white ship.

Sanji's heart thumped loudly in his chest. The salty breeze, the rocking motion, the creaking of ropes... the Jolly Roger. Pirates! Marines! Islands, storms, giant fish...! All those images and more raced through his mind faster than he could comprehend. And then...

Luffy.

_'I've found you! My cook!' 'No! I decline!' 'Make fun of this hat and I'll send you flying!' 'This guy makes five.' 'We're going to the grand line!' 'I'm gonna be the king of the pirates!'_

Eyes wide and blank, he went back inside to find Zoro serving himself dinner. He flopped down onto the couch and set his hands in his lap, staring at the brown haired swordsman before him. Swordsman... that was right, wasn't it. And he was a cook. A tough one. And Usopp was a sniper, and Nami-san was a navigator.

Zoro hesitated in wolfing down his food, glancing at the human-turned-statue. "Aren't you going to eat?"

He didn't move. "Hey, kid. You want some food or what? I'm going to eat it all if you don't answer."

Still nothing. Zoro started to get confused. Usually he got angry if Zoro ate too much of their food.

"Hey. Kid. S... Sanji? What's up? Hey Sanji!"

Sanji abruptly snapped out of his revere, all previous thoughts dispersing and fading out.

Zoro had NEVER said Sanji's name before. He just called him 'kid',- if he needed to call him at all- even though they were the same age.

"Huh? What...?" He finnaly noticed what what going on around him, Zoro, the warm sent of dinner, the house...

"You spaced out on me, kid." That dumb grin again.

"I was just... thinking about..." What had he been thinking about, anyway? He couldn't remember.

"Knowing you, I'm sure it wasn't anything important."

"Care to say that again?" Sanji growled. Zoro knew he was back to his old self.

"Just come and eat, idiot." he returned, but playfully. Zoro could always tell when he was bugging him.

"Who's the idiot," Sanji muttered, and sat down to eat.

_**To Be Continued...**_

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_What's up with the world? Zoro and Sanji sharing a house? Heaven forbid! Mleh, I'm joking. .__If you didn't like the chapter, it's worse not to say so. If you _did_, it's _still_ worse not to say so. Tell me what you think. _


	3. Lies, Untruths, and Misconceptions

_Yaya! Chapter three! My dad got out of the hospital. :3 Sorry I was so busy. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Here it is._**  
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**Weirdo Base Strikes Back**

_Chapter 3. Lies, Untruths, and Misconceptions  
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The shadow moved silently around the side of the pillar, exactly opposite it's prey. Left, right, back around, farther, closer, dancing in and out, always just beyond sight.

All was dead silent, except for the quickened breathing of one on the verge of hysteria.

One deft slide to the right, and the twang of a bow. It was over. At that close of a range, the target was dead beore it hit the ground.

Usopp unwraped the bandana from his head, unblocking his eyes and lifting his self-induced blindness. Looking down at the unmoving body at his feet, he knelt and yanked the arrow out of it's skull, dropping it back in his quivver in one swift movement. He could clean it later; good arrows were hard to make.

Cocking his head to one side, he just barely caught the anguished scream of another victim. He could make out the triumphant silouette of a woman seventy yards away, holding a bo staff loosely.

A siren sounded, and a welcome sound it was. -ROUND TWENTY ENDED. WINNERS ARE TEAM S, NAMI AND USOPP-.

A few minuets later, the two of them were back in their borrowed estate. Nami was polishing her staff in her room, and Usopp was lying on his bed upstairs. His bandana and his bow and quivver were in a pile in the corner, along with his battle mindstate and his cool indiference.

He curled up in a ball, facing away from the unfamillier room, shutting out the horribly wrong world around him. None of this was right, and he was the only one who saw it. Not even Nami, and she was the most sensible of them all.

He so dearly hoped that all of this was a dream. If it wasn't...

This HAD to be dream. It just plain wasn't fair otherwise. Luffy was dead, Zoro and Sanji were off somewhere else entirely, he and Nami were killing innocent people for no reason exepct competition, no one remembered going to sea at all, or their adventures together, and Usopp... he didn't know what to do.

He tried to tell Nami, but it was just like back home when his village was going to be attacked and no one belived him because he lied so much. Only, this time around, there were no galiant pirates to help him when no one else could. This time around, it was those very same galliant pirates that would never belive him.

He felt his arms go numb where he held on too tight. He shook, his emotions grabbing hold of his body. He twitched and trembled, and no one was there to see him, so it was okay. He coughed into his arms, a dry cough that left his throat hurting. He coughed, again and again, and he felt hotter than usual. He shivered and pulled the blankets around him.

A soft knock on the door.

"Usopp? Usopp, is it alright if I talk to you?"

"Go ahead and come in, Nami. You can always talk to me." He didn't quiet feel like it, but talking sometimes cheered them both up. He rubbed his arms for warmth and tried to seem a little happier, so she wouldn't need to worry about him.

She quietly closed the door behind her and walked over to his bed, plopping down heavily on the edge, her head hanging. She seemed pretty down.

He uncurled himself and sat up against the wall. "You alright?"

"Usopp..." her voice wavered ever so slightly as she whispered his name.

He frowned and put on hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Nami, what's wrong?" He took care to sound unrushed.

"Usopp, I... Tell me a story?" she turned her head to look at him, eyes pleading, like she really needed it.

He hesitated. Nami just didn't act like this. She just... didn't. Not if there wasn't something terribly wrong.

"Please..." she breathed.

"...Yeah, okay."

He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, searching for a tale.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I saw a giant goldfish?" She shook her head.

That wasn't correct, he had told her that story hundreds of times, on the Going Merry.

"Well, that's okay," he continued, "Because the story I'm about to tell you has nothing to do with that."

She giggled slightly, some of her previous expresion fading.

"The story I'm about to tell you has kidnapping, poison, deciet, and mockery to the extremely anoying level, and someone who chokes it all with a pie, and the funny thing about it is, it all started with a rat.

"Now, this rat was was a clever little thing, and it had stowed away on a pirate ship. What the rat loved the most in the world was evil. All kinds of evil, kidnapping, poison, deciet, mockery, anything like that. The rat loved it so much, it only needed evil to survive, even when it had no food or water. So the rat stowed away on a pirate ship, knowing that around pirates, evil was always lurking.

"The first morning after departure, the rat went up on deck. The first person he sought out was the first mate. The first mate, being a powerful warrior, was bound to be heartless and cruel.

"And sure enough, no sooner than the rat had come on deck, the first mate started fighting with the cook. Thier fight lasted almost a half an hour, but when it ended, instead of feeling full of energy, the rat felt more hungry than it had before.

"So, instead of staying around the cook and the first mate, it went to the the ship's sniper. He was known for telling lies, and deciet was a type of evil.

"But when he found the sniper, instead of lying, he was patching up a hole on the ship, fixing it. So the rat waited, and after a while the siniper started talking to the navigator, who had been frustrated by the first mate and the cook. He was telling lies now, about a magical island in their path that wold drown out any noise you didn't like automaticaly.

"After listening to them for a few moments, the rat started to get frustrated. It was even hungrier now, and it didn't know why.

"So it decided to go see the captain. If no one on the pirate crew was evil enough, the captain had to be. It ran all the way to the figurehead where the captain was sitting and looked at him. He wasn't doing anything, so it moved to a spot where it could see his eyes.

"He took one look at the eyes of the pirate captain, and do know what it saw?"

Nami shook her head. She had been listening more intently than he had expected, hanging on to his every word.

"In the captain's eyes, there was wonder, innocence, curiousity, loyalty, trust, and, -this is the big one- truth. Absolute black and white truth. All that baked into one pie, it choked the rat, and it died of starvation."

"... Did the rat fall overbord?"

"You betcha! And no fish would eat it."

Nami smiled warmly and leaned back against the wall, next to Usopp. "It died of starvation because of the captain. And it didn't even see the straw hat! Imagine if it did!"

"Yeah," he laughed, "It would explode or something." He closed his eyes, chuckling lightly.

When he opened them again, Nami was smiling straight at him. But, it was a different kind of smile than before. A murderer's smirk of triumph, like at the match.

No. A theive's smirk. Then it finally registered what Nami had said about the straw hat.

"You...!"

Nami's grin widened at his astonished expresion.

"You remember! You remember the Going Merry! I don't belive it!" he shouted in glee, "You knew all this time, and here I was thinking that you- Wait."

"I only remembered after you told me the story about the rat. I had been remembering small bits of things, and that's why I asked you to tell me a story. I knew if you were going through the same thing I was, your story would reflect it. It's because you think of them off the top of your head."

"Wow. That's actually what I was going for." Usopp plopped down onto the bed, eyes closed and grinning. "So how'd you get around the maines, do you remember?"

"Not much. I remember you falling. I don't think I'll ever forget that." She shuddered. "I think the marines tried to force me to drink something, but everything is hazy. They might've tried to put the four of us in a state of amnesia. You weren't there of course, so you weren't effected."

"That makes sense. I wonder why, though? Those are kind of wacky marines, with their Weirdo Base. Why'd they put you guys in there in the first place?"

"Don't remember that either."

"I'm still trying to figure out what the heck they did to Luffy. Why didn't they just kill him outright? It makes me mad whenever I think about it."

"..He's not dead, you know."

He opened one eye to look at her searchingly. "What do you mean?"

"He's not dead. I know that's what everyone thinks, but it's not true."

"How so?"

"Alright." She sighed, then looked back at him seriously. "Did you ever notice when Zoro sleeps so much after battles, but never really before them?"

"Well, we all knew he sleeps alot, but no, I didn't notice that."

"Back when just the three of us- me, Luffy and him- were fighting Buggy the clown, Zoro got really hurt. He wasn't as strong as he is now, but he still carried Luffy in a cage while his side was litteraly pouring blood, you remember that story, right?"

"Yeah..." Usopp could tell this was leading somewhere. He opened his other eye.

"Well, after he did what he could, the mayor helped him out. The mayor told us that he had tried to get Zoro to a doctor, but Zoro had said that he only needed a little sleep. Later on, when he had been fighting for a long time, and won, he conked out on the street. He did it at Arlong Park, and almost everywhere else when he needed to recover. And after he had his naps, he always was completely fine.

"What I'm trying to get at is, the exact same thing goes for Luffy. The only difference is, instead of sleep, it's meat. Even when we were at Syrup village. After he defeated Kuro, he almost fell unconsious right where he stood. I asked him something about the battle, and he said 'A steak would be nice.' I know he's not dead, because the last thing I remember seeing him doing was eating trememdous amounts of meat right after we got back to the Going Merry from Weirdo Base."

'It wasn't that much...'

"Of course it w..." Nami trailed off, distracted. "Usopp, you didn't say that, did you." He slowly shook his head.

'Hi Nami, hi Usopp...!'

_**To Be Continued...**_

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_Yup. There you have it.__ Again, tell me what you think! (Wow, my muscle memory sure lets me type that fast!) Happy Holidays everyone!**  
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	4. Off the Deep End

_No one knows for whom the Tells bowl. I was afraid Luffy was coming across a bit too childlike... I tweaked a bit at the last moment, but it's hard to say wheather it still... I went off on a tangent. I have no idea what I'm saying. Happy New Year! I like multiples of three. I hate seven. Three is the only good odd number._

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**Weirdo Base Strikes Back**

_Chapter 4. Off the Deep End_

"LUFFY!" they both shouted in unison, jerking upright. They could hear him, but that was about it. And he sounded so far away...

Nami frowned. "Did you die?"

'I don't really know... I can't feel my body, I can't feel anything... But I can hear you guys...! And you can hear me, so I'm glad...'

"Hey Luffy, did you..." Usopp hesitated, then continued, "Did you talk to the others, Zoro and Sanji?"

'I tried to talk to Zoro, but Sanji's the only one who can hear me... I tried to talk to you guys for a long time, too, but you couldn't hear me either...'

"But now we can... Hey Luffy," Nami asked, curiously, "What do you last remember?"

A pause. 'The ocean... I remember being in the ocean, but it was okay, because everyone was there with me, and Zoro was pulling me out... And everything hurt... Especially my back, and my head...'

"That was right after we got out of the Weirdo Base!" exlaimed Usopp. "Luffy, do you still have my sash around you?"

'I can't feel anything, Usopp...'

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

'My hat... I can't tell where it is...'

"Zoro has it." Nami interjected confidently. "He's keeping it safe."

'Wow, thanks, Nami...! I'll be back, guys... I'm gonna go see Zoro...'

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Zoro sighed.

Sometimes there were things that just couldn't be helped. Like falling. You try to fix it, but the only thing you can do is ride it out and hope you'll land safely.

It was the same thing with people. It was so easy to do something that would make them hate you forever. You can't take back actions, you can only hope they'll forgive you.

He hoped Sanji would forgive him. He didn't have to do this. But it was important.

Zoro sprung over the side of the gate and started walking down the dirt path that led up to the top of the hill. He hoped Sanji could forgive him, so he could land safely. He didn't want to fall forever.

A wet tiger. With wings, no less. That wasn't right. But, he was no tiger, so it was okay. Run, pick up speed, faster, faster, then, LEAP! Into the air and hung there.

What goes up always comes down, but the time in between was the best part. Just hanging there in mid air, where nothing can reach you, but you can reach everything. That was flying. The part in between jumping and falling.

Ah, but falling, that's when it changes from peaceful to interesting. The speed, so fast without even moving. The wind whistling past your ears, the earth coming closer and closer.

There was no tucking into a roll this time. No soft lawn to beak his fall. He looked closely, and saw exactly what he wanted to see. He had gone over the fence. He was on the other side, and the view was different now. In stead of a hill with sharp rocks and desert and thorns at the bottom, it was only half a hill. A sheer cliff, with not a desert, but a beach, not thorns, but crabs, not sharp rocks and a barren wasteland, but

the ocean. Waves crashing against the shore, salty air, seagulls flying- all the sensations hit him at once as he passed the barrier. He pressed his arms to his sides and straightened from a freefall into a dive. He didn't bother closing his eyes as he passed through the double-sided mirror. That's the surface of the ocean.

A mirror from the top, a window from the bottom. Everything was backwards. He broke the surface, and glided underwater. Bouyancy, what goes down must float back up. He hung there in the water, the split second in between sinking and floating. That was flying. He curved upward, resurfacing, shaking the water out of his face and hair.

There was something heavy on top of his head that wasn't there before. Treading water, he felt for whatever it was and took it off. He gazed at the thing in curiosity. It was a woven straw hat, with a red ribbon around the top. It must've appeared whe he passed through the barrier, just like the ocean. If that was the case, then how long had he been wearing it, unaware of its existance...?

Speaking of things he didn't know he had been wearing, he felt a light tug and heard a soft jingle by his left ear. He reached up to the side of his head and felt with the tips of his fingers three long earings. As he raised his arm, he noticed a black piece of cloth tied around his bicep.

Something quite heavy tugged at his middle. He dunked his head underwater to better see what it was. He was wearing a huge green sash, a haramaki. He almost choked on sea water when he saw what else had appeared. There was a scabbard hanging from his belt. With a sword in it. He was starting to feel slightly more intimidating than just some guy.

He swam to the shore and sat on the wet sand, dumping water out of his boots. This was great! He'd so have to tell Sanji. He'd find Nami and Usopp, too, and he'd tell them. He was sure it didn't just have to do with himself.

Thoughfully, he unsheathed the white hilted sword and turned it around, swooshing it gently through the air.

"Have I really been carrying a blade all this time? Wonder how I got it in the first place..."

Without warning, a horrible pain shot through his chest and he doubled over, dropping the sword. It felt as if he were a frog being disected alive. He groaned, clutching at his shirt. His heart throbbed painfully, his blood racing through him.

Then as sudenly as it came, the pain was gone, leaving him panting for breath.

'BROTHER!' 'My name is Dracule Mihawk! Strive to defeat me, Roronoa Zoro!' 'No, he's not okay! But he's alive!' 'I will never lose again! Got a problem with that, king of the pirates?' 'They make a good team.'

Zoro slowed reached out his hand to touch something on the inside of his shirt. Starting at his left shoulder, he traced a line all the way to his right hip. A scar, not even a week old. How did he not see...?

He fell back onto the sand, letting the waves lap at his feet.

Luffy was dead.

He let the finality of those words seep into him. He always knew it, but now that nothing was hidden from him anymore, he finaly understood what that meant. His best friend- his captain. Remembering the straw hat on his head, he took it off and calmly twirled it between his fingers.

"You could've at least stayed long enough to get your hat back, idiot."

'Yeah, you're right... Thanks for keeping it safe for me... Can I have my hat back now...?'

Zoro almost choked when his heart leapt into his throat. Hardly daring to belive it, he peered over the rim of the hat, half suspisious, half mock-suspisious.

"You Luffy?"

A grinning face peered back at him, the small scar under one eye curving with his lips.

'Yup...! You Zoro...?'

"Could be..." He raised one eyebrow, the hidden edges of his mouth twitching upward. "You willing to take a chance?"

'I'll bet you're Zoro...'

"I bet you a straw hat I'm not."

Luffy laughed.

"I thought you were dead."

'Yeah, me too... I'm still not sure about that part yet...'

"Well, let me check it out." Zoro stood up and faced the boy. "Your voice is funny, you are slightly transparent, you're floating, and if I poke you,-"

He did so. His finger met resistance in a rubber stomache, and Luffy giggled. Zoro had to use all his self control not to poke him again.

"-you're solid. Strange. You might just be dead."

Luffy put on a pouty face. 'Nu-uh... I don't wanna be dead...!'

"It's okay, you might not be. Even if you are, it's not that bad. We'll never forget you."

Zoro smushed the hat down onto his captain's head, making him bow slightly, and grinned.

"Keep that hat safe, alright? You know better than me how much it means."

'Stop it,' Luffy suddenly comanded, head bowed, his eyes in shadow. "Stop talking like you're leaving."

Suprised, Zoro lifted the brim of the hat with one finger and peekedbehind it. "You okay?"

Luffy's head snapped up. Zoro could see the beginings of tears in his eyes.

"Promise me! Promise me you won't leave! Not you, or Sanji, or Nami, or Usopp!"

Puzzled, Zoro stepped back and considered Luffy for a moment, then gave him a look. "Luffy, I'm suprised at you. As if the Straw Hat Pirates would ever abandon thier captain!"

And then, for some reason he felt he had to add, "You're the captain now. You decide where we go."

Luffy's face was unreadable for a moment, then he brightened considerably. "I can still be captain even if I'm dead?"

"No way! So don't die, okay?"

"But I thought you said I was dead?"

"I did, but look." He grabed Luffy's arm and held it up to the light. Neither of them could see through it anymore.

"Hey!" exclaimed Luffy, "My voice isn't echo-y! And my feet touch the ground!"

Zoro smiled broadly, and sheathed his sword. "Follow me."

**_To Be Continued..._**

_**

* * *

** _

Moo! I'm the most energetic when I'm sleepy. That is probably why I end up doing things more at night. Who thinks Zoro just figured the whole thing out? Likewise, I wonder who thinks it's just another shameless red herring? And who has no idea what's going on? All shall be resealed-! I mean, revealed! I love you all, and I squeal in the delight of confusing the masses.


	5. Sanji Finds Out

_Wow. Sorry about that. I had a brief (that means one-day) encounter with a book I've read before and still love. My brain had been screaming premonitions about it for a while now._

_Good news on DDCCNN(Darkday Chaos' Cheery News Network): You know how plot bunnies, like real ones, either get run over, eaten by something, die for the heck of it, or else they multiply into infinity? Mine had a healthy life, but then was left outside in its cage for a bit too long and ran away, almost got shot by an AT&T gunslinger from outerspace, then I found it laying on the street, and so picked it up and hightailed it to the hospital, tried to rejuvinate it but it was slipping away fast, then out of nowhere it started having babies like crazy and thus its odd legacy lives on._

_To make a long story short, (or to make a good story long) my train of thought went off track then righted itself with a vengance. Enough. Read on._

* * *

**Weirdo Base Strikes Back**

_Chapter 5. Sanji Finds Out the Lie_

Sanji would never cook again if this is all he could use for ingredients.

He ripped the bag of flour open and calmly poured all its contentents out onto the kitchen floor, watching the falling powder intently. One by one, he spilled out every peice of food from the grape juice to the rice crackers to the spices. It all fell, one by one, into an ever increasing pile of inedible sludge.

He dropped in all the relatively small kitchen apliances for good measure, then stuck a paper in the middle and perched upon the now empty counter.

'Evil Poison  
DO NOT EAT -Sanji'

He lazily swung his legs back and forth, hands in his lap, eyes on the ceiling. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

He wasn'y very used to being by himself, having lived his entire life in places where things _happen_. Sanji sighed. It was so incredibly boring.

He considered singing to pass the time.

"He stayed hungry for eighty days, eighty days, eighty days,  
he stayed hungry for eighty days and almost went crazy.

"A ship had finaly come his way, come his way, come his way,  
a ship had finaly come his way and took him out to sea.

"When he was a teenager, teenager, teenager,  
when he was a teenager new pirates blew the roof.

"He sailed away to find All Blue, find All Blue, find All Blue,  
he sailed away to find All Blue, but his captain was a doof.

"He traveled with them anyway, anyway, anyway,  
he traveled with them anyway, no finer dream he had.

"And now he's stuck inside a cage, 'side a cage, 'side a cage,  
and now he's stuck inside a cage where all the food is bad. Yup, that about sums it up, don't it?"

"Nice song. You should get it copywritten."

Sanji just about fell off into the sludge.

"Z- YOU! You weren't listening the whole time?"

"You betcha. Look what I found." he added, giving Sanji only enough time to sputter indignantly.

Zoro raised his fist into the air as if he was holding something.

'Hi, Sanji...!' said a familier voice from the direction of Zoro's fist. 'OOH...! MEAT...! Can I have some...?'

"Luffy," Zoro said in mild amusement, "You'd die if you ate that. It's clearly marked 'Poison'. Besides, it's all gross."

Sanji really did fall over in shock this time. "That's Luffy? And he's not dead?"

"Spot-on, Wattson! Alive and kickin'! Seriously, Luffy, stop kicking around."

'It's fun...! Why don't you just put me down...?'

"Because then I'd have no idea where you were."

"Here." Sanji had gotten over his shock-induced coma enough to hand Zoro his jacket. "Have him wear this."

He and Zoro watched almost intranced as the jacket made a few strange movements before settling over a torso shape.

'How do I look...?'

"Invisible." "With your eyes." Sanji and Zoro answered at the same time.

'Hahahaha...!'

Zoro joined in the laughing, then suddenly looked a bit solemn as he turned to the cook. "I'm really sorry, Sanji."

Sanji was starting to wish Zoro would stop saying things that made him fall over.

"For leaving by myself for a long time."

Sanji shook his head as he got back up. "There's no reason you should be sorry, unless you wen-"

"I went flying."

"Damn it, Zoro! I told you to stop doing that! You freaking masochistic punk!"

Zoro raised his hands in mock self defence and backed up. "Hey, I got a good reason this time!"

Undeteced, Luffy smiled. The way they acted remined him of how Ace used to protect him when they were little. They fought almost constantly, but in the end they were, every second of the day, caring brothers.

"Isn't that right, Luffy?"

'Yup...! It's really cool, Sanji...!"

"Alright. Let's hear it. What's the excuse?"

"The song you were singing earlier, the last line. 'And now he's stuck inside a cage where all the food is bad.' How did you know all that, " he gesured to the mound of spilt food, "was poison?"

"I..." Sanji's eyes glazed over in deep thought. "I'm not really sure, but I think I started to guess when you got sick yesterday. I don't ever remember you getting sick before, and the food didn't seem to be bad. Being the cook and all, I kind of got suspicious when things happened after meals."

Zoro's eyebrows rose in suprise. "What kind of things?"

Sanji exhailed slowly and reclaimed his perch on the counter.

"I started forgeting things temporarilly. I think you did too, but it was hard to tell. Stuff about before- about being pirates. It also did other things, like I forgot my fighting style, and couldn't control my strength or anger like I used to. And I couldn't cook as well or as fast as before."

"And the seagoing tiger grew wings, for flying was the only way to return to the sea."

"Right, and the tiger- What? You mean you?"

"Yeah. Like you said before, eveything is wrong here. It's a cage. I found the bars. That's my reason for going flying. I got a glimpse of the outside, Sanji, and everything is right there. I saw the world as it really is. I saw myself as I should be. I just plain _saw_ Luffy."

Luffy, who had (aparently) been sitting quietly, watching them talk, now gave an enthusiastic 'Uh-hum...!' of agreement.

'By the way, guys, when was Zoro flying...? Does he have wings...?'

"No. Luffy." Sanji shook his head. "'Going flying' is just what we call it when Zoro jumps off stuff for no reason. He never did it before we lost our memories."

'Oh...' His voice paused for a moment. 'Can we go back to the beach, Zoro...? I wanna see stuff again...'

"That reminds me!" Zoro turned to Sanji and grinned wryly. "Sanji, if I cut your hair out of in front of your face with my sword right now, you wouldn't even notice. Until we got to the beach."

Sanji was regretting even being able to fall over in shock.

"But..." There was no hair in his face! There was no sword, there was no beach! Oh yeah... That wasn't correct, was it?

'Zoro...!' prodded Luffy, 'Can we go to the beach now...?'

"We have to find Nami and Usopp first. You don't want to leave them behind, do you?" Zoro asked the floating jacket.

'No way...! Follow me, I know where they are...'

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_I acctually cut part of Sanji's song out because I didn't like it. Mleh. Anyway, There they go- off to find Nami and Usopp!_

_A secret from me to you: The shortness of this chapter depressed me. Even though it's not acctually that short. I'm just weird today. I quote: "Go fry a tomato and slap it with a dark lightbulb." and, "Jones, look out! It's an octopus!" See what I mean? Anyzway, Tell me what you think.  
_


	6. The Meeting

_It is just me, or does everyone seem dead? I didn't get any reviews for chapter five, and I just assumed it was too short. (I thought it was too short, at least. It didn't really have much in it.) The funny thing is, Neverland still has more collective reviews, which I automatically take to mean that WBSB isn't really what it's cracked up to be._

_I am working on it, though, and I am acctually open to suggestions not so much for the over-all plot, as for how I'm doing so far, and what you think could be left out, or is missing something. Anyway, here's chapter six (which is really the original ch. 6 and 7 combined, so it's about twice as long)._

**

* * *

Weirdo Base Strikes Back**

_Chapter 6. The Meeting  
_

Nami could see them before they came into view. Her image of a green-haired swordmaster, a cool and collected fighting cook, and a brightly grinning captain was only slightly far from the visual truth.

First came Sanji, stepping out of the forest edge. He wasn't smoking, he was wearing brighter clothing- patchwork jeans and a white t-shirt- and his stride was less pronounced, but when he saw her, the exact same Sanji that she used to know was still on the inside.

"NAMI-SWAN!"

He bolted straight for her, clearing the long space between them in seconds. When he reached her, he, without thinking, gave her a tight bear hug, rocking lightly from side to side. Well, maybe he acted a bit different. In that embrace, Nami no longer felt like the untouchable goddess Sanji made her out to be, but rather a dear friend that had finally been found after years of searching.

Gasping, he jumped back as if shocked by electricity. His eyes wide, (for his hair was out of his face and both eyes were showing, both with un-curled eyebrows) he started mumbling, "Forgive me my disgraceful actions, Nami-san, your divine self deserves so much better... Oh beautiful Queen of mortals! How I dare to act so brutishly, may I be punished by the gods-"

"Sanji-kun," she interrupted firmly. He paused and looked up at her from his low bow. Then she gave him a warm smile. "It's alright."

"I forgive you," she added, at his unconvinced look. He stood, and after a moment, also smiled, a look of gratefulness spreading across his face. Not for her forgiving him, she thought, but for her being happy.

Zoro's entrance wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but Nami could spot his poorly contained grin a mile away. He looked as much different as Sanji did, if not more. His hair was a strange shade of brown that didn't suit him at all. Speaking of suits, Zoro wore a shirt that was black with gray newspaper text all over it, and kahki knee-length shorts.

Zoro didn't bother saying anything, he just stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall of the house, smiling uncontrolablly.

What happen next is what suprised Nami the most. A black jacket flew towards her at top speed yelling 'NAMI...!' in much the same way Sanji had. She heard the sound of pounding feet, and the swish of clothes. It got closer until it was right in front of her, and didn't stop. Barreling her over and latching onto her, she felt thin, rubbery arms and legs wrap around her. Something that felt like a head of hair nuzzled against her cheek. Something else poked lightly at her head just above her hairline. It felt like straw.

"Luffy..." she breathed. Then, much more loudly, "You're alive? Luffy, you're alive! You're invisible! You're squeezing me too tight, get off. I need to breathe, you know."

The jacket backed off and Nami stood back up. She looked at it with a tilted head for a second, then her eyes grew large as she looked first from the jacket to Zoro and Sanji, and back again.

"You're not- He's not- Is he- he's a ghost?" she finally managed to get out. She had felt Luffy, but, then again, she hadn't. It was hard to explain. It was as if she should have, and her mind knew it, but her body didn't agree.

Hesitantntly, she reached out a hand and slowly, she poked the air where his stomache should be.

There it was again! She almost felt the rubbery texture of his skin, hidden behind his almost-shirt. 'Hehe, that tickles, Nami...!' his almost-voice giggled.

"As far as I can tell," Zoro replied to her rhetorical question, "I have no idea. It might be an illusion. He might be living, breathing, warm and solid right in front of us, or he might not really be there at all."

He reached to somewhere at the side of his almost-haramaki and drew his almost-sword, the almost-sound ringing through the air. He almost-brought it back down and almost-resheathed it.

'Hey...! I'm real, Zoro...! Let's go to the beach, come on...'

"Beach?"

"Yeah. Could you get Usopp so we can go?"

"Oh-! Sure, I'll be right back."

Nami ran inside and charged into Usopp's room, where he had been sleeping. She wasn't really sure why they were going to a beach, but she suspected they weren't going to tell her. Not yet, anyway.

"Usopp, Usopp wake up, they're back, the others are back, Luffy and the others!"

"Nami...?" He blinked up at her groggily as she shook his shoulder. "Wassa matter?"

"Luffy and Sanji and Zoro are back, they're right outside!"

He jumped up, fully awake. "Then let's go down!"

He bounded down the stairs, alternatively taking three and four steps at a time. Nami had to run to catch up.

Outside, Usopp had burst out of the house so fast that he had to skid to a stop. Sure, the sight of his crewmates wasn't exactly what he had been expecting, but then again, it was. Most things that made them seem recognizable and familiar were gone- Zoro's earrings, Sanji's cigarette, little things, but many.

Usopp received the same treatment as Nami.

'USOPP...!' The captain-turned-jacket leaped at him and destroyed any chance of ecsape, hugging him to death.

'We found everyone...! Hey, Usopp, good to see you...!'

"I'd say the same, but I can't see you. Gerroffa me, would you?"

Luffy hopped to the ground and proceeded to hop up and down in front of Zoro.

'Beach...! Let's go to the beach...! Beach, beach, beach beach beachbeachbeach...'

The swordsman wasted no time in pulling Usopp by his sleeve and half drag him down the path in the forest.

"You heard the jacket," he called to the others, grinning, "let's get going!"

Usopp struggled against his grip in vain and peered indignantly up at Zoro's face.

"Hey," he called with a disgruntled tone, "Let me go would you? Why are you dragging me?"

"You're going to be my guinea pig," Zoro mumbled back distractedly, not taking his eyes of the path ahead of him.

Usopp swallowed hard and, having no say in the matter, started stumbling through the woods, Zoro's strong hand not relinquishing its hold on Usopp's sleeve whatsoever.

---

Usopp had a sudden change of heart. He wouldn't mind if Zoro held fast his iron grip at all. In fact, Usopp quite wished the swordsman was holding onto a part of him that he was less likely to let go of than his sleeve. Maybe it was because his entire body was dangling over the side of a enormous cliff, the only thing solid touching him being Zoro's hand.

Maybe. It was hard to tell.

"Zoro, get me down! Don't let go! Please, Zoro,-" he sputtered in panic, all the desperation that he had been able to hold onto was now spilling out of him like a waterfall, and it was apparent.

He glanced behind him, and promptly wished he hadn't. He shut his eyes tight and tried not to whimper.

"Zoro... Zoro let me back on land, please, I'm begging you, I'm gonna fall-!" True, his hand hadn't slipped a centimeter, but Usopp was getting antsy to extreme levels.

"Alright, alright. Don't wet yourself."

He was flung uncerimoniously onto the grass behind the swordsman, and he dug him fingers into the ground, as if to never let go again. Panting heavily, he twisted his head around to glare icily at the innocent-looking 'hill'.

"Scardy-cat," laughed Zoro, entirely unapologetic.

"When is a hill not a hill? When it's two cliffs in disguise. Or in this case, half a hill pretending to be a whole one. Or something. Right, Mr. Mad Scientist?"

"That's right, Guinea Pig. Now for the test results. What did you see on the other side of the fence? Tell the others."

Usopp sat up and regarded Zoro for a moment. Deciding it wasn't enough to get angry over, he turned to Nami, Sanji, and Luffy.

"I saw it all as it should be. You guys... I saw Sanji's eyebrow and cigarette and bangs, Nami and Zoro's hair color, and Zoro's proper clothes and sword. I saw Luffy, he has his hat and everything, and he actually looks preaty cool in Sanji's jacket." At his last testimony, Usopp grinned at Luffy and could feel him grinning back.

"Very good," nodded Mr. Mad Scientist, "What did you see behind you, Guinea Pig?"

'Zoro...'

"Hey?"

'Can't you just SHOW them...?' an exasperated and impatient Luffy whined.

"Your wish is my command, oh great and powerful King. The only way down to the beach is the cliff, just so you know."

"Great," muttered Nami sarcasticly.

She stepped curiously forward to the metal gate that seemed to enclose the illusion. Slowly placing both hands on the rail, ("Careful, Nami-swan.") she leaned over so that her head was past the railing.

She imediantly gasped and leapt back.

"Th-th-there's no floor," she stuttered dumbly, "I... It just went... Gone."

Sanji, after giving Nami a reasuring look, climbed over the fence without a backward glance and was on the other side. He hung there for a moment, looking over his shoulder.

"Wow... That's a long way down."

He let go of the railing, and dropped out of sight.

"Sanji!" yelled Nami and Usopp simutaniously, rushing to the fence. Zoro merely peered over the edge with mild curiosity.

Standing on a small ledge about halfway down the side stood Sanji, smiling and waving up at them.

"If you jump, Nami-swan, I'll catch you. It's not really as far as it looks. Really!" he added, at their skeptical looks.

As Sanji set Nami down on the ledge after catching her, he turned to face the beach and found Zoro and Luffy already standing there, they having jumped straight down the side. As Usopp and Nami dropped onto the sand, Sanji followed suit, watching the four of them.

There was his captain, laughing and running around on the sand. He did actually look good in Sanji's black jacket, but contrasting with his grinning face, it almost looked as rediculous as the boy himself.

There was Zoro, his crossed arms and steady stance not taking away from the happy expression on his face. Looking at the swordsman, Sanji realised that although Zoro had hardly ever strayed from his sight, it felt as if he hadn't really seen him for a long time. This could be because of the lack of an ilusion, he wasn't sure. But, it was nice to see green hair again, even if he would never admit it.

As for the changes in Nami and Usopp, the sniper's hair was once again longer and uncurably curly. His goggles and bandna were back, as were his overalls and his bag of goodies, not to mention his long nose. Nami's hair was also returned to its normal color and length, and her high-heels and bo staff were visible.

Zoro caught Sanji's eye and held it there for a moment. See? I was right, wasn't I?

Sanji snorted and shook his head, neither in agreement or disagreement.

---

Pooling together memories, facts, guesswork and speculation, The StrawHat Pirates were able to come to a theory on what the heck was going on.

This is what they decided upon.

It started with the marine battle that they had lost. Each of them had been unconsious on the deck of the Going Merry at the end, except for Usopp. When the marines dragged off Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Luffy, Usopp fell to what the marines thought was his doom, so they left him there.

The marines had put the remaining four into the underwater Weirdo Base and left them there, to keep them safe and in one spot for as long as they needed. The marines took extra measures with Luffy, putting him in a freezing tank filled with seawater, and injected him with an- as of yet- unknown substance. The three of them remaining had also been injected with whatever it was, or otherwise had been forced to drink it when they were unconsious.

The substance, or 'Weirdo Base Punch', as Usopp calls it, (named after the odd fruit smell of the poison back on the Going Merry) is what makes them effected by the ilusions, and what made them forget things. It took effect after Usopp rescued Luffy and the others from Weirdo Base and got back to the Going Merry. The Punch's effects only took place after the consumer touched sea water, or the ocean. That's also why it stopped working- the ocean activates it, and the ocean gets rid of it.

Sanji had already figured out that all the food from the store was spiked with Weirdo Base Punch. Just smelling it cooked can trigger the effects.

The purpose of the Punch was to keep them in the Cage. The Cage wasn't really a cage, save for the fence around the border. What it did was hold the ilusions. The ilusions were there to get rid of anything familier- anything that might trigger memories to return. Usopp's nose for instance, and Sanji's curled eyebrow. Aparently no part of Luffy was acceptable at all, so he couldn't be seen inside the Cage. He could hardly be felt, like all almost-things. 'Almost-things' were things that the ilusion hides. Luffy himself could hardly feel or speak.

The purpose of the Punch was to keep them in the Cage. The purpose of the Cage was to keep them in the games. The games consisted of matches, and matches happen about four times a week. They played against people who were probably trapped there too, and, by the way they fought, pirates.

Every match, there was a losing team. Every losing team, there were two more people dead. Usualy. Sometimes no one died, but that was a rare case.

The only thing they couldn't figure out was WHY all this took place. There was no point, it seemed. Marines pitting pirates against eachother like fighting dogs? Also, no one remembered the transition from escaping Weirdo Base to being in the Cage. It was as if they were always in the Cage, but they now knew it wasn't true.

All five of them agreed on one thing, though. Those were some psyco marines.

"Another reason why they didn't want Luffy to participate in the games is probably because he was the most likely to start remembering. He had already been exposed to ocean water twice, right?" mused Nami, "Once when he was in the ice tank, and once when we escaped the Base."

"Or maybe they just didn't have enough people to make even teams."

Usopp dodged a blow to the head. "I was being serious!"

"Hey Luffy." Sanji looked at the captain with a look of bemusement, frustration, and bewilderment all at once. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't dead? I had been talking to you for almost months now! I thought it was just your spirit contacting me."

He shugged apologecticaly. "I didn't know either, Sanji."

Zoro, who was floating on his back in the water, watching the sky, now called to no one in particular, "Maybe we should try to find the Going Merry."

"I don't think so. It could be anywhere, and it could take quite a while to find it. If none of us show up for the matches, the marines or whoever's in charge is going to know something's up. Especialy if we screw up the whole system."

"We don't have them every day, Nami-san," Sanji reminded her, "If we come back in time for each match, we could find Merry in no time."

Zoro swam back to the shore. "He's right. When's Usopp and your next match?"

"Ah, two days from now."

"Ours is tomorrow. You two can search while we're away, and vise-versa. Luffy can go with whoever is free for the day."

"Sounds good." Usopp bobbed his head in agreement.

Sanji turned his gazed towards the horizon, where the sunset was casting colorful light on the long clouds. "It's getting late. We should go to bed for now."

As if to prove his point, he was met with four yawns. The crew murmered goodnights and good lucks before meandering up a small (previously unnoticed) path to the top of the hill, and then to theirs respective houses. Luffy bunked with Zoro and Sanji for the night, shamelessly taking over his swordsman's bed. Sanji fell asleep listening to his crewmates' snores, and, as he was drifting of to sleep, almost managed to convince himself that he was back on the Going Merry and safe in his hammok.

**_To Be Continued...

* * *

_**

_I hope it wasn't too long. I just thought that the chapters were just too... I don't know. Anyway, I'd be happy to hear what you think! _**_  
_**


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